(1) A court may make
an order in relation to a de facto relationship only if satisfied —
(a)
there has been a de facto relationship between the partners for at least 2
years; or
(b)
there is a child of the de facto relationship who has not yet attained the age
of 18 years and failure to make the order would result in serious injustice to
the partner caring or responsible for the child; or
(c) the
de facto partner who applies for the order made substantial contributions of a
kind mentioned in section 205ZG(4)(a), (b) or (c) and failure to make the
order would result in serious injustice to the partner.
(2) In deciding
whether there has been a de facto relationship between the partners for at
least 2 years, the court must consider whether there was any break in the
continuity of the relationship and, if so, the length of the break and the
extent of the breakdown in the relationship.
(3) Subsection (2)
does not limit the matters the court may consider.
[Section 205Z inserted: No. 25 of 2002 s. 47.]